Latest market data

Stock search

Projections are a funny concept in business. On paper they mean
one thing but to entrepreneurs they mean something entirely
different. Think of it like a dirty, little secret. While you
show potential investors your best face, you show on-board
investors a more conservative picture and in house you create
projections that are somewhere in the middle -- the ones you
really try to meet.

We learned that the hard way this year. When pitching investors,
we used our most exciting, enticing projections. They weren't
irresponsible -- we definitely didn't imply we would accomplish
global domination in the year. But they were pretty sexy, we had
an amazing 2012 and figured at the very least 2013 would continue
to offer a similar explosion for us. Statements like, "Yes, that
huge account that just emailed us a week ago? We're going to get
them in January, and they'll put us in every single location
within the month and so by the end of the year we'll have won
everything ever" were tossed around. Of course that's not how the
year went. Big accounts can take months and months to land.
Who knew? Not us.

Last year was a great, as S.W. Basics saw steady, upward growth.
We know that now because we are finally consulting with a CFO who
has actual real-life experience. When we first met her, we were
in a full-blown panic. Why weren’t we meeting our amazing
projections? She looked straight at us and the first thing she
said was, “Are you in year three?” How did she know!? “Yeah, this
happens to everyone in year three,” she said. The word "this"
that she was referring to was the lack of planning and
preparation for growth. Or as I like to think of it as an
in-over-your-head feeling or a
you-can’t-assume-only-the-best-will-happen feeling.

So now it’s almost like we’re starting over. We’re creating
realistic projections. I’m not sure that we’ll create different
versions, because we’ve learned that the panic of not meeting one
doesn’t feel great. Instead, our CFO calls our new projections a
dashboard. We like this way, way better. It is a detailed look at
our budget and monthly growth that we hope to get almost exactly
right for next year. We adjust it every month, and it carries out
the changes through the whole year. We feel significantly better
prepared for 2014 and more confident about what our sales are
going to be.